


science fiction (bending truth)

by poweradequeen



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Criminals, F/M, Gen, Heist, this is a birthday present for brit/@rllyjohnrlly on tumblr so go check them out, yeah idk what else to say
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-27
Updated: 2020-09-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:47:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26135236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poweradequeen/pseuds/poweradequeen
Summary: the gaang but if they were thieves and despised capitalismtitle from mercury by sleeping at last
Relationships: Aang/Toph Beifong, Katara/Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 46





	1. i.

**Author's Note:**

> this is for [@rllyaangrlly](https://rllyaangrlly.tumblr.com/) for her birthday, happy birthday!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> happy birthday brit!!!!

The chandelier was beautiful, the ceiling was so high. Aang was wearing the fanciest suit he had. Tonight was much like any other night for him. Tonight he and his friends, although they seemed more like family to him with how much time they spent together, were robbing a gala. 

Aang straightened his bow tie and walked into the ballroom. Katara came in after him and immediately started flirting with the organizer of the event. Sokka and Suki waltzed their way closer to the safe that had enough money to give all the homeless people around town food for a week. 

Aang was supposed to mingle with the guests. He knew exactly where to go, the Beifong’s were in attendance and they had a daughter, her name was Toph if Aang wasn’t mistaken. He spotted Lao and Poppy Beifong, most definitely the wealthiest people here. He assumed the girl standing next to them was their daughter. 

He walked towards them, slipping between people dancing. Once he arrived, he extended his hand towards her. “Hi, I saw you across the room and I was wondering if you’d be interested in a dance?”

“I don’t know how that would turn out since my daughter is blind,” Lao Beifong replied for his daughter which Aang could tell made her frustrated.

“You taught me to ballroom dance when I was seven, I know how. Besides, I would just have to follow his lead,” Toph accepted his hand. He led her towards the middle of the room. “My name is Toph, by the way.”

“Aang,” he replied suavely. Toph rested her one hand on his shoulder and took his hand in her other. A few steps in it was clear that Aang wasn’t very familiar with the art of ballroom dancing. 

“So, _Aang_ , what brings you to this gala?” Toph asked.

“Well, isn’t it proper etiquette to show up to something you’ve been invited to.” Toph pulled Aang closer, whispering into his ear.

“You weren’t invited. I know that invite list off by heart and I don’t recall there ever being an ‘Aang’ on it,” Toph started. “That, and the fact that you obviously don’t know how to dance, it’s clear that you’re here for something else.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Miss Beifong,” Aang’s heart started to race. The last thing he needed was to get caught. 

“You do, your heart wouldn’t be beating so fast if you didn’t.”

“Maybe it’s because I’m dancing with someone as beautiful as you,” Aang flirted, a last-ditch attempt to get her off of the topic. 

“I know you’re up to something, Aang,” Toph said as Aang twirled her around. “And whatever it is, I want in.”

“Fine, I’ll tell you.” Aang, against his better judgement, conceded. “Just not here.”

Toph hummed in delight, “does that mean it’s something illegal?” 

“Like I said, not here.”

“So that’s a yes.”

Aang led Toph to a secluded area where Katara, Sokka and Suki already stood.

“Aang? Who’s your friend?” Suki asked, clearly angry. 

“The name’s Toph Beifong. Aang here tells me you’re doing something illegal, is that true?” Toph introduced herself. 

“You told her?” Katara scolded.

“I didn’t tell her!” Aang defended himself.

“I caught on myself,” Toph finished his thought. “It wasn’t that hard, but you’re lucky it was me and not one of those classist pigs out there.” 

“So you’re not going to call the police?” Sokka asked.

“Why would I ever call the police, if anything I’d call my lawyer,” Toph scoffed. “Anyway, illegal activity?”

“Theft,” Suki said, still not pleased with Aang bringing another person into the mix. 

“Like guns and masks and stealing people’s jewelry?” Toph asked. “Are you going to kidnap someone for ransom?”

“No, we’re going to steal the money from the safe and hightail it out of here,” Aang explained.

“Lame, at least have some showmanship,” Toph said. 

“We’re trying _not_ to get caught, actually.”

“The safe can’t be accessed remotely,” Sokka said, typing on his tablet.

“Yeah, that’s because it isn’t electronic, this place was built in the 18th century, you’re going to have to open it manually,” Toph informed. “Lucky for you-”

“You know the passcode?” Katara interrupted her.

“No, they don’t tell me that stuff,” Toph continued, “but now that I’m part of your group, I can get you into that safe.” 

“You aren’t part of our group,” Suki said.

“Okay, I guess you’re not getting into the safe then,” Toph sighed dramatically and started turning around.

“Fine, if you get us into that safe I’ll think about letting you into the group.” 

“Safe’s cameras are on a loop nobody will know it has been taken until we’re long gone,” Sokka told the group.

“Alright then, let’s do this.” Katara led the way to the safe. Toph walked up to it and put her hand against the metal. She tapped it, feeling the vibrations within it. She twisted the dial, the soft clicks of the safe being unlocked vibrating against the palm of her hand. She smiled as she put in the last number in the combination and the safe door opened. 

“How did you do that?” Suki asked in amazement.

“Well since I’m blind my other senses are heightened, and that includes touch sensitivity.” Toph shrugged.

“Wait, you’re blind?” Sokka asked.

“I am? Oh my god, I never knew,” Toph said sarcastically. 

“Are we just going to stand here or?” Katara broke the silence.

“Right! That’s a thing we’re supposed to be doing. Well, I mean we’re technically not _supposed_ to be doing it because it’s a crime, but we made plans to do it,” Aang said as he pulled the door open, Suki reached under her dress and got out a duffle bag.

They put all the money from the safe into the bag. “So what are you using the money for?” Toph asked. “Also what are your names?”

“Well, we are going to use it to give back to the homeless and impoverished because the treatment they get is unfair,” Katara explained, wiping down the safe of any indication they were there. “As for names, you already know Aang. I’m Katara, this is my brother Sokka.”

“Hi!” Sokka said, momentarily taking a break from stacking the money.

“And this is Suki.” Katara motioned towards Suki and Suki waved.

“I literally just told you I’m blind, I don’t know who you’re referring to.”

“Oh, right! I’m sorry, Toph,” Katara cringed. “Suki, please introduce yourself.”

“I’m Suki, I organize the heists and make sure they go to plan. So, thank you for opening the safe, without you, a lot of people would have gone hungry.” Toph could tell her words were genuine.

“Yeah, well I’m not like my parents or anybody else that was actually _invited_ to this party. I don’t exactly care for thinking I’m superior to people just because I was born into money.”

Sokka finished emptying the safe, he zipped up the duffle bag. Suki attached it to clips under her dress so she could carry it out undetected. 

“How do you plan on leaving without getting caught?” Toph asked.

“We go out one by one, Suki first because she has the money,” Sokka explained.

“Why don’t you just go through the back exit?”

“There’s a back exit?” Suki asked, glaring at Sokka who was supposed to look at the blueprints.

“Yeah, it’s through the kitchen.”

“Yeah, and how weird would it be if guests just walked out through the kitchen, that definitely wouldn’t raise suspicion,” Katara said sarcastically.

“A lot of guests do it to have a smoke, all of you could walk right through and as long as one of you had a pack of cigarettes, the kitchen wouldn’t bat an eye.” 

“Well none of us smoke to my knowledge, so none of us would have a pack,” Katara said it sternly like she had already scolded them about the harmful effects of smoking.

“Give me five minutes,” Toph told the group. “Aang come with me.”

“Why me?” Aang asked, already being pulled away with Toph.

“We’re going to dance.” Toph smiled. 

“Are you sure that’s the best use of our time? I’m sure Suki is pretty uncomfortable with that duffle bag,” Aang said but he rested his hand on Toph’s hip and started dancing anyways.

“This isn’t any normal dance,” Toph confessed. “This dance has an ulterior motive, pickpocketing!”

“I like the way you think, Miss Beifong.” 

The starting notes to ‘Carmen Suite No. 2: Habanera’ echoed off the walls. Toph and Aang danced around, getting close to the other patrons. Aang could feel the tension between them. He wanted nothing more than to kiss her when he pulled her back up from the dip. If Aang had, he would have kissed a pack of cigarettes. 

“You’re amazing!” Aang said breathlessly.

“I know, now let’s get out of here,” Toph pulled Aang towards where his friends were. It was by far the most fun Toph had ever had in her life. The thrill of getting caught was exhilarating, the fact she was rebelling was glorious. Her parents couldn’t control her, it was amazing.

Toph handed Aang the cigarettes. “Have fun, I hope that’s enough money for everybody to have full stomachs by tomorrow.”

“You’re not coming with us?”

“Bringing a girl home on the first date? But seriously, my parents would call for a manhunt if I left and I don’t want to draw much attention to tonight for obvious reasons,” Toph said. She turned to Aang and gave him a card. “Give me a call if you need another safe broken into, okay?”

“You got it,” Aang smiled. He was definitely going to use her number for more than just calling her for heists. 

“Good. Bye Twinkletoes,” Toph smiled.

“Twinkletoes?” 

“You’re light on your feet.” Toph shrugged and went back to the ballroom. Aang sighed happily as he watched her disappear back into the crowd. Katara smirked at Aang. 

“What?” Aang asked.

“Oh, nothing. It’s just so obvious that you have the hots for her.”

“I do not! So, she’s pretty and when we danced the only thing I wanted to do was kiss her. Sure, I want nothing more than to get to know her and oh no, I have the hots for her,” Aang realized.

“You got it bad, dude,” Sokka laughed. 

“Okay, can we leave now?” Suki asked. “This duffle bag is kind of heavy.”

“Oh yeah!” Aang remembered, “ _that’s_ what we were doing.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> leave a kudos if you want 🥺


	2. ii.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> zuko steals a cat??? idk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i like to call this one ‘no one is heterosexual’

“Hey, buddy!” Aang greeted Appa, his St. Bernard, as he walked into his and Toph’s apartment. 

“No greeting for me?” Toph asked, an over dramatic frown on her face. 

“ _ Hi, Toph _ ,” Aang walked behind the couch and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. 

“Don’t forget that we have the heist tomorrow night,” Toph reminded Aang as he put the groceries away. 

“Suki would kill me if I let that happen,” Aang laughed. “And if I’m not alive I wouldn’t be able to spend time with my beautiful girlfriend.”

“You’re such a sap,” Toph groaned, but Aang could see the smile.

“You love it.” 

“Unfortunately.” 

Aang settled into the couch with Toph, Appa sprawled across their laps. Aang picked up the remote off the coffee table and started flipping through the channels when he got a call from Suki.

“Hey Suki, you're on speaker with me and Toph, what’s up?” Aang asked, holding the phone up between himself and Toph.

“There has been word that someone else is trying to get to the Warriors’ Sun Stone before we do, we have to get it tonight,” Suki explained. “You guys should come into the office now so we can get everything sorted out.” 

“Alright, we’re on our way.” Aang hung up and put the phone back in his pocket. Toph picked Appa up off their lap, she scratched him behind the ear.

“Sorry, Appa. We gotta go, but we’ll be back later,” Toph told Appa, he let out a little whimper. 

“Oh, I’m sorry buddy, We’ll be back tonight.” Aang hugged him and made sure his food dish was full before leaving. Toph closed the door behind them. 

“It’s crazy to think that all this started because you confessed to a crime five minutes after meeting a pretty girl,” Toph said, wrapping her arm around Aang’s.

“That was four years ago, can we let it go?” Aang asked, just a tad embarrassed. He led them to the apartment complex’s elevator.

“No, absolutely not.” 

“Never?” Aang bargained. “Never ever?” 

“I will bring it up on my deathbed, Twinkletoes,” Toph laughed, she felt the braille numbers on the elevator buttons and pressed the one that would bring them down to ground level.

“Really, Tophy? Never?” Aang led Toph towards the doors. She knew her way around her apartment, but the lobby was a different story.

“Tophy? You’re really going there?” Toph laughed. Aang laughed with her, her laugh was truly infectious. The car ride was short and uneventful. 

“Hey, hottie,” Toph told Katara as soon as she stepped into their little headquarters, a small warehouse Katara and Sokka inherited from their father.

“You can’t even see me, how do you know I’m hot?” Katara asked, cleaning and organizing her medical supplies.

“You have that vibe to you, Sweetness.” Toph walked to the middle of the room, where she knew the couch would be. She could hear Sokka typing on his computer, most likely hacking into the museum’s security system. 

They discussed the plan of action, Suki briefed them on exactly how the heist was going to go. Down to the minute. There was no way it could go wrong. 

  
  


The plan went completely off the rails. Sokka wasn’t able to disable the alarms. Toph didn’t know the layout well enough. Aang had to distract a security guard and by the time they got to the exhibit, the Sun Stone was already gone. 

Suki flopped onto the couch as soon as they made it back to the warehouse. “Well, that was a bust.” 

“Yeah, no kidding,” Katara muttered. “I can’t believe someone got there before us.”

“I can’t believe that they took advantage of the fact I disabled the cameras,” Sokka moped.

“Yeah, that’s kind of a cop out. Like at least have the decency to do it yourself,” Toph said. She sat next to Aang on the bar stools beside the counter. 

“I just want to know who this person is, and how they showed us all up.” Aang crossed his arms over his chest. “Who’s going to make the call that we were unable to retrieve the artifact?”

“Who do you think, Twinkletoes?”

“Is it me?” Aang asked and everybody nodded. Aang sighed heavily, “fine. Give me the phone.”

Aang informed the chief of the tribe from which the artifact was taken for ‘safekeeping’. The plan was to give it back to the community it belonged to. The chief assured them it was alright, that not every heist can be successful. They all went home that night feeling defeated. 

Katara woke up to a call from her brother. She looked at the time on her alarm clock.

“Sokka, why are you calling me at 3:17am? I swear if this is about another meme,” Katara said as she picked up the call.

“No, the Chief just called and said an anonymous person just dropped of the Sun Stone to them.”

“What?” 

“Yeah, that’s what I’m asking.”

“Can we talk about it tomorrow?” Katara asked.

“You mean today?” Sokka said. It resulted in Katara hanging up on him.

The next day they met up at the warehouse and discussed who this mystery thief could be. They gave up after a few hours and started planning a new heist. A quick bank robbery, under the radar, easy. 

They had everything planned, Aang and Suki were in the vault, everything was going to plan. That was, until Aang felt a gun against his head. 

“I don’t want any trouble, just-”

“You don’t want trouble, do you?” Suki held the point of the sword to the person’s back.

“Is that a sword?” They asked.

“Yeah, you have a problem with that?” 

“No, it’s just usually security guards don’t use swords.”

“Wait, you think we’re security guards?” Aang asked.

“Um, yes?” They said. “Are you not?”

“We’re literally pulling off a heist as we speak.” Suki informed him. “What are you doing here?”

“I am  _ also _ pulling off a heist as we speak.”

They agreed to work together, they pulled it off with ease. Whoever this guy was, he was good. Aang opened up the back of the van, they all piled in and Katara started driving away.

“Okay, so I just did a head count,” Sokka said. “And colour me confused when there was an extra person.”

“Extra person?” Katara called from the driver’s seat. 

“You did it again?” Toph asked, feigning offence. 

“Okay, perhaps,” Aang confessed. “But he was already in the middle of his own heist when we joined forces.”

“Did you seriously do it again, Aang?” Katara yelled.

“Did what again?” 

“I just realized you never told us your name,” Suki said. 

“Oh, I go by the Blue Spirit.”

“The Kyoshi Warrior, but I meant your real name.”

“I don’t know if I should be giving that out.”

“I have a sword.”

“The name’s Zuko.” He offered his hand to shake.

“Suki.”

“Did what again?” Zuko asked again.

“Four years ago, Aang let me in on a little secret,” Toph started. “And by little secret I mean he told me he and his friends were robbing a gala not even five minutes after we met.”

“Hey! You caught on yourself! You're just as much to blame!”

“Apparently, whenever Aang sees an attractive person during a heist he just lets them join the team,” Sokka smirked. 

“Attractive?” Zuko asked, the blush on his cheeks was very red. 

“I’d say,” Suki said, looking him up and down. She and Sokka shared a knowing look before high-fiving.

“I’m so confused,” Zuko shook his head, still blushing.

“You get used to it,” Toph told him. They all introduced themselves, sans Katara who was driving. They went back to the warehouse. 

“This is my sister Katara, she’s the medic of the team. We call her the Painted Lady,” Sokka said, Katara waved curtly at the mention of her name. Zuko noticed she was quite pretty. Zuko and Sokka kept talking, but Katara pulled Suki off to the side. 

“I don’t trust this guy, I don’t know. There’s just something about him,” Katara told her.

“What would make you trust him?” Suki asked. Katara was glad Suki didn’t try to tell her that she was overreacting. 

“I don’t know, like proving his loyalty to the team, proving that he’s a valuable member?” Katara waved her hands, Suki made a humm in agreement. They walked towards the rest of the group. 

“Alright, so if you want to be a part of the group-”

“Who said I wanted to be in your group?” Zuko asked. 

Toph scoffed. “C’mon. You want to be in the group.”

“Okay, yeah you’re kinda right,” Zuko shrugged. “What do I have to do?”

“What’s your special talent?” Toph asked. 

“What do you mean?” 

“Well for example,” Sokka started, “Toph is like a locksmith, she can open like any door. Suki organizes everything. Katara is the medic. Aang is like a Jack of all Trades, he can do a little bit of everything, and I am the hacker.” 

“I don’t know? I am just good at pickpocketing and thievery in general,” Zuko shrugged. “That’s really it.”

“Okay, then I guess just like steal something?” Suki suggested.

“My parents are having a gala tomorrow,” Toph said. “Stealing from the Beifong’s would be a pretty big deal.”

“I mean, I’ve done it before,” Zuko shrugged. “It was fun.”

“No way, same!” Toph laughed. Toph told him everything she thought he needed to know. Zuko really didn’t think it covered enough information, but after the third rant about her childhood relationship with her parents he decided he could go without  _ all _ of it.

  
  


The next night, Zuko stood in the middle of the gala. He observed the room, he struck up conversations. He danced around, bumped into a few guests. Zuko was only present for thirty four minutes before he felt confident enough in his skills to leave.

He slipped out and called Sokka.

“You’re done already? It’s been like five minutes.”

“It has been a little over half an hour actually.”

“Semantics,” Sokka said. “Anyway, we’ll be there in like i don’t know, a few minutes.”

Sokka wasn’t lying, they  _ were _ there within a few minutes. A van pulled up next to him in the alley way. Aang pulled out a foldable table and laid it out. 

“Put everything you stole onto the table,” Toph instructed. Zuko emptied his pockets that were littered with wallets, jewelry, a few phones. He took off rings and pulled out handkerchiefs. To top it all off, he took off the jacket he was wearing. 

“You stole the coat?” Katara asked in astonishment.

“And the cat?” Aang added. At Zuko’s confused look Aang pointed to the ground behind him.

“I don’t think that’s a cat,” Zuko said.

“No, I’m pretty sure that’s a cat.”

“No cat has ears that big, or that droopy.”

“Hey, don’t cat shame.” 

“I’m not shaming it,” Zuko shook his head. He couldn’t believe he was willingly hanging out with these people. “No, I didn’t steal the cat. Yes, I did steal the coat.”

“How did you manage that without getting caught?” Suki asked.

“I just did, I’m good at what I do,” Zuko said as he watched Aang pick up the stray ‘cat’. 

“Katara, look it has something in its paw. We have to help him.” Aang gave Katara his biggest puppy dog eyes. She held his gaze for as long as she could before caving.

“Fine,” she sighed. “Give it here.” 

“I’m sorry, I’m still on the fact you stole the coat off somebody's back and didn’t get caught.” Toph shook her head in disbelief. 

“What can I say, I learned from the best.”

“And who might that be?” Sokka asked.

“Nobody you need to worry about, they’re retired anyway.”

Zuko looked over to Katara who was bandaging up the cat’s paw. She looked pretty when she was concentrating. 

“I think I’m going to call them Momo,” Aang declared.

“We are  _ not _ keeping it,” Toph said. “We already have a dog.”

“Please? Pretty please with a cherry on top? Pretty please, I’ll do anything, please?”

“You’d think after four years I’d be more immune to that.” Toph rolled her eyes.

“Welcome to the team,” Sokka said. Zuko smiled, maybe willingly hanging out with them wouldn’t be so bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pls leave a comment or kudos : )!!


	3. iii.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i cried three times writing this but i’m also pretty sensitive so it might just be a me problem

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i tried not to go into detail, but the gaang do get into trouble with a mob this chapter and face the consequences

“We need a getaway driver for this one,” Sokka said, sitting down on the couch next to Toph. 

“Why?” Suki asked, her chin on top of Sokka’s head. She was looking at a bunch of code she didn’t understand.

“I can’t hack it remotely. I have to be within a certain distance of the camera system to get into it.”

“I mean I was supposed to be a distraction, but I can do it,” Katara volunteered.

“No, but you're way too important to not be there.” Aang swivelled in the bar chair as he spoke. “I’d say Toph could, but,” he chuckled.

“Nah, what are you talking about Twinkletoes?” Aang rolled his eyes at Toph’s four-year-old nickname. “I can totally drive.”

“I have an uncle,” Zuko said, albeit a bit hesitant. “He’s been a getaway driver more times than I can count. Last week, for example, when I stole the Warriors’ Sun Stone.”

“That was you!” Sokka yelled. “I put in  _ so _ much work disabling those cameras.”

“The cameras were disabled?” Zuko asked. “Sorry, though. I guess?”

Sokka scoffed. “Yeah, you better be.”

“Who’s this uncle?” Katara brought the conversation back to the subject at hand.

“He’s really good, and his van would be able to fit all of us,” Zuko said. He secretly hoped it would make them all trust him. He knew some people were still wary of him, especially Katara. 

“Alright then, I guess,” Suki said. “Does your uncle have a name?” 

“Iroh.”

  
  


As soon as they got in the van, Iroh offered them tea. 

“It’s really good,” Zuko told them, taking a cup. “It’s jasmine.”

Toph accepted a cup, it was delicious. “This is amazing, it tastes so familiar though.”

“Maybe you have had it,” Iroh said. “It is a specialty at my tea shop, ‘The Jasmine Dragon’.”

“Wait, that’s  _ your _ teashop?” Katara asked. “The amount of times I’ve gotten a cold brew from there should be illegal.”

“The cold brew was actually my nephew’s idea,” Iroh admitted, “I was hesitant at first, but Zuko told me it would increase sales, and he was right!”

“It was your idea?” Katara questioned, Zuko nodded. Katara chuckled fondly. “Well, thanks. I don’t think my life would be the same without them.”

Sokka took a cup off the tray, “I’ll cheers to that.”

“Hear, hear,” Aang raised his glass. Everybody else joined in. Zuko wasn’t lying, the tea was fantastic. 

It was a surprisingly short drive. “Shouldn’t it have taken a bit longer?” Sokka asked. 

“Uncle knows this city better than the back of his hand,” Zuko said. “Every in and out. Back roads, shortcuts. You need a driver, he's your guy.”

“Maybe we’ll be in business with him more often then,” Toph said. “I mean, it’s a no brainer if he has the tea.”

“I’d commit crimes for that tea.”

“You commit crimes on the daily, Aang.” Katara laughed.

“Yeah, but I would be committing crimes specifically for the tea.”

“That’s actually such a mood though,” Suki sighed. “I would literally fistfight the Queen of England for that tea.”

“Same,” Sokka nodded his head.

“Stop simping over my uncle’s tea, okay?” Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose. “We’ve got a job to do.”

“Right, the crime, yep.” Aang started walking towards the stairs to the building. “I know what we're doing, I am organized.”

“I’ll believe that one when I see it, Twinkletoes.” Toph laughed, she caught up to him. She grabbed his hand and interlocked their fingers, Aang smiled.

“This has nothing to do with my bedside table,” Aang said.

“This has  _ everything  _ to do with your bedside table,” Toph replied. “It’s a mess.”

“I’ll have you know, it is organized chaos!” 

“Oh ‘it’s organized chaos’,” Toph said sarcastically. “Of course! How did I not realize?”

“Stop patronizing me.”

“Sorry, it was in the contract you signed when you started dating me.”

“Curse that fine print.” Aang held open the door, to which Toph curtsied over dramatically.

  
  


It was almost comical how obvious the red flags were during the heist. In hindsight, it was almost their own fault they got caught. They weren’t caught by the police. They were caught by people much more dangerous, a mob. There were two mobs that were worrisome to the community: The Angels and The Dragons. 

As Sokka was hacking into the cameras, bags were pulled over their heads. They were ushered into some other room. Zuko had just enough time to notify his uncle. Their hands were bound behind their backs. Horrible things happened in that room, that everyone would rather forget. They all had scars from previous heists that happened to go wrong, but the wounds they were getting probably took the cake. 

Sokka clenched his teeth. Katara held her breath. Toph bit her cheeks. Suki’s face scrunched up. Aang’s eyes rolled back in his head. Zuko didn’t react, he grew up playing a game called ‘two for flinching’ in the worst ways. He was kind of used to it. They didn’t like his calm nature, but before anything could happen Zuko heard a familiar tune being whistled.

Zuko breathed a sigh of relief as he heard the whistling get closer. The door opened. Light shined into the dark room. Zuko could only see his Uncle’s silhouette as he entered. He made quick work of the men. 

“You know nephew, usually your goal is  _ not  _ getting caught,” Iroh was already cutting the zip ties and untying the knots around all of their hands.

“No ‘I’m glad to see you're still alive’?” Zuko asked as he rubbed his wrists. 

“I thought I’d change it up a bit. Stay hip with the kids.”

“Please never say that again,”

They all left as soon as they could. They were met with another nice cup of warm tea when they entered the van. Katara immediately got out her medical kit. 

“Stitch yourself up first,” Zuko said calmly. Everybody else agreed.

“No offence, Kat,” Toph told her. “But if you’re bleeding out, you probably won’t be able to stitch us up.”

Katara stitched up the wound on her arm. She covered it with a clean bandage. She moved on to the cut on Zuko’s arm. It was the worst cut. 

“Who do you think it was?” Suki asked. “The Angels?”

“I never understood why they’d name their mob ‘The Angels’.” Aang mused. “Aren’t angels supposed to be, like, good?” 

“It wasn’t The Angels,” Zuko said it with finality. 

“You seem very sure about that claim, mind elaborating?” Toph asked.

“I’ve gotten into my fair share of trouble with The Angels,” Zuko cringed as Katara poured rubbing alcohol into the wound to clean it. She quietly apologized. “They were never that brutal.”

“What if they changed up, deciding to hurt people?” Sokka offered.

“Uncle?” Zuko called out. “You’d have the best guess here, who do you think it was?”

“It was The Dragons,” Iroh confirmed. “This has their work written all over it.”

“You seem to know a lot about The Dragons,” Katara said, placing a bandage over Zuko’s arm. She motioned for Toph to let her see the wound. 

“I have a,” Iroh paused, trying to find the right word. “ _ Complicated _ past with them.”

“You were a part of them, weren’t you?” Toph guessed. “I don’t mean to pry.”

“You aren’t, don’t worry,” Iroh smiled sadly. “When I was very young, I was involved in horrible things. When I was seventeen, I met a beautiful young lady. Down the line we fell in love, got married, and had a little boy named Lu Ten.” 

Toph moved up closer to the front seat when Katara had finished fixing up her upper arm. 

“Because of my ties to The Dragons, Lu Ten and my wife passed away.” A tear ran down Iroh’s cheek as he spoke. 

“You don’t have to share anything you don’t want to, uncle,” Zuko said. 

“It is okay, Zuko. It is nice to tell people.” Iroh paused, the only sound was the clicking of the signal light. “It was their deaths that made me relook my life as a member. I left, at first it was very difficult. I knew things they didn't want people on the outside to know, but I survived. I made a life for myself, I pursued my other interests, tea.”

“You’re very good at making tea,” Aang said, tearing up. “If that’s worth anything.”

“Thank you, it is worth a lot.”

“You pulled off some awesome moves back there,” Suki mentioned. “Was that from The Dragons?”

“That was actually post-dragons,” Iroh chuckled lightly. “Surprisingly. I was the only person above 35 in that martial arts class. The Dragons dealt more with weapons.”

“Yeah,” Sokka laughed sarcastically. “I can tell.”

“Sokka,” Katara said tiredly. “We get that your coping mechanism is humour, but this is a bit traumatic.”

“And it’s only going to make me funnier,” Sokka smirked, it got a light laugh out of everybody. “Ow! Katara!”

“I genuinely did not mean to do that.” Her eyes went wide. “I am so sorry.”

“I forgive you,” Sokka said. “I guess.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> leave a comment or a kudos if you feel so inclined!

**Author's Note:**

> leave a kudos or a comment if you want 😳😳


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